From another technological field, methods and apparatus for processing dough and the like are known.
For instance, Machinefabrik M. A. Rademaker B. V., P.O. Box 416 NL-4100 Culemborg offer an apparatus for producing filled rolls of pastry. The fillings can be rolled into sheets of dough by means of motorized cone-shaped rollers.
Further, Rheon Automatic Machinery GmbH, Tiefenbroicher Weg 30, D-40472 Düsseldorf also offer an apparatus for producing filled rolls of pastry. The apparatus comprises a conveyor belt for supplying sheets of dough to a cylindrical roller. The cylindrical roller is arranged in parallel to the plane of the dough sheets and with its axis in an angle relative to the supply direction.
However, experiments have proven this machinery to be ineffective for treating natural and/or process cheese. It is believed that this can be attributed to the different materials properties of cheese. For example, dough exhibits relatively low elasticity, whereas natural and/or process cheese is more resilient and, therefore, has fairly high restoring forces, tending to restore the original shape of the cheese.
Further art is known from for example WO 97/33822 (Farley Candy Company, Inc.) which discloses a winding assembly and a rolled food product. The apparatus disclosed in WO 97/33822, however, is limited in that the maximum diameter of the produced roll is largely determined by the spacing between the disclosed product feed guide and a roll-up device, both of these elements being fixed. The products mentioned as illustrative applications for the disclosed apparatus are pastries,. cookies, candies, chips, pizza, egg rolls, burritos, enchiladas, ravioli, manicotti, egg and cabbage rolls, blintzes and cannelloni, as well as gum and candy, i.e. all foodstuff with low resiliency while being processed.
Further, an apparatus relying on the suction force of a vacuum applied to a continuously moving sheet material, and on the pressure exerted by the application of compressed air is known from EP 0 739 586 A1 (Societé des Produits Nestlé S. A.) . The vacuum and the compressed air are applied through an elongated straight pipe. The longitudinal axis of the pipe is arranged perpendicular to the supply direction and parallel to the plane of the supplied sheet material. The pipe can be moved in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the supplied material. The range of movement in this direction is limited. Therefore, the apparatus disclosed in EP 0 739 586 A1 is not capable of continuously producing an endless roll from sheet material. Again, the prior art apparatus is destined for dough, sliced meat, pasta, etc., i.e. soft materials.